A Guide to the Star Wars Universe

Rating:
Summary: A Guide, Not A 'Complete' Guide to the Star Wars Universe
Review: 'Completely revised and expanded' is what the cover of the Third Edition 'Guide to the Star Wars Universe' says, but when those who own previous editions flip through the pages, they find a great deal of what they have read before with scant passages of new information, and Slavicsek professes to be a huge Star Wars fan, I find it odd that he completely misses entire series of novels-like the Aaron Alston series of X-wing books. Plus Slavicsek touches on the Phantom Menace with character bios, places and equipment, but he ignores a lot of the other material-books and comics-that came out after the film. As well there is very little new art, and none of the art is original, rather pictures we have seen before, (and gives us one of the dumbest pictures of Corran Horn I have ever seen). He makes no mention of Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, which in my opinion is one of the best pieces of Star Wars related material released in the last five years.

Now, that is not to say that the book isn't worth the money. It is overflowing with all sorts of obscure facts from sources that many people might not otherwise read-like it draws heavily on the Star Wars role playing Game material (West End Games, not Wizards), though I suspect that it mainly because Slavicsek wrote a lot of those books as well. It takes from comics, novels, movies, even the forgettable Droid and Ewok TV shows, and the two Ewok movies, even the Holiday Special, which we won't talk about. Ever.

I think it falls apart because they released it too soon. It covers Vector Prime, but none of the five other books that followed it in the New Jedi Order series. No mention of 'Onslaught', 'Ruin', 'Heroes Trial', 'Jedi Eclipse' or 'Balance Point', and perhaps Del Rey should have waited until they had been published before releasing this to make it even more up to date. Still, it is an excellent source of Star Wars information, a great source for role playing material and a reference to all the books and comics you haven't yet read. Not great, but still pretty darn good.

May the Force be with you.

Rating:
Summary: Dog-eared and tattered.
Review: As a prospective Star Wars novel author and a HUGE Star Wars Fan, I found this book to be invaluable. However, as most of the others have said, it sorely needs to be updated. Also, some descriptions conflict with each other. But all in all, I would consider this a MUST HAVE for any Star Wars fanatic that wants to know some of the nitty-gritty details of the Star Wars Universe.

Rating:
Summary: Good, solid Star Wars guide, update forthcoming.....
Review: Because the "Star Wars Universe" this guide covers is as vast and populated as George Lucas' "galaxy far, far away," it's impossible for even the most prolific researcher/writer to keep up with all the new additions as books, games, collectibles and even animated episodes appear almost on a monthly basis. For even though the Star Wars canon (read, "official version") only includes the six filmed Episodes, their novelizations, and their direct off-shoots (such as the National Public Radio dramatizations and the Cartoon Network's Clone Wars miniseries), there are also tons of Lucasfilm-authorized Expanded Universe novels, comic books, and games (roleplaying and computer games) that have added planets, political entities, droids, weapons, spacecraft, alien and human characters that go beyond Lucas' filmed works.

In some ways, Bill Slavicsek's 596 page A (as in A-3DO, a droid once owned by the Jedi Knight Andur Sunrider) to Z (ZZ-4Z, yet another droid, this time once Han Solo's mechanical housekeeper, last seen recovering from an attack by Boba Fett) book serves as a "poor man's Star Wars Encyclopedia," since the format is very similar and essentially covers the same territory -- down to the style of the entries -- as Steven J. Sansweet's more expensive and even more outdated (circa 1998) reference book.

The Guide is, obviously, a must-have reference work, and Slavicsek has done an excellent job at compiling all the data from not only the first four filmed Episodes (the cutoff point in this edition for the movies is Episode I: The Phantom Menace) but also every licensed media release, including young reader books (The Glove of Darth Vader), comic books (Tales of the Jedi Knights, the Dark Empire series), and such forgotten (and forgetable) TV offerings as the Droids animated series.

I don't know if there will be an interim Guide published by Ballantine Books before the release of Episode III next year; I had hoped to see a fourth edition this year that would cover Episode II and the New Jedi Order series after Vector Prime. Then again, Sansweet's more expensive Star Wars Encyclopedia has not been updated yet, so I am guessing the next editions of these two wonderful references will be released in a few years.

Rating:
Summary: Good, solid Star Wars guide, update forthcoming.....
Review: Because the "Star Wars Universe" this guide covers is as vast and populated as George Lucas' "galaxy far, far away," it's impossible for even the most prolific researcher/writer to keep up with all the new additions as books, games, collectibles and even animated episodes appear almost on a monthly basis. For even though the Star Wars canon (read, "official version") only includes the six filmed Episodes, their novelizations, and their direct off-shoots (such as the National Public Radio dramatizations and the Cartoon Network's Clone Wars miniseries), there are also tons of Lucasfilm-authorized Expanded Universe novels, comic books, and games (roleplaying and computer games) that have added planets, political entities, droids, weapons, spacecraft, alien and human characters that go beyond Lucas' filmed works.

In some ways, Bill Slavicsek's 596 page A (as in A-3DO, a droid once owned by the Jedi Knight Andur Sunrider) to Z (ZZ-4Z, yet another droid, this time once Han Solo's mechanical housekeeper, last seen recovering from an attack by Boba Fett) book serves as a "poor man's Star Wars Encyclopedia," since the format is very similar and essentially covers the same territory -- down to the style of the entries -- as Steven J. Sansweet's more expensive and even more outdated (circa 1998) reference book.

The Guide is, obviously, a must-have reference work, and Slavicsek has done an excellent job at compiling all the data from not only the first four filmed Episodes (the cutoff point in this edition for the movies is Episode I: The Phantom Menace) but also every licensed media release, including young reader books (The Glove of Darth Vader), comic books (Tales of the Jedi Knights, the Dark Empire series), and such forgotten (and forgetable) TV offerings as the Droids animated series.

I don't know if there will be an interim Guide published by Ballantine Books before the release of Episode III next year; I had hoped to see a fourth edition this year that would cover Episode II and the New Jedi Order series after Vector Prime. Then again, Sansweet's more expensive Star Wars Encyclopedia has not been updated yet, so I am guessing the next editions of these two wonderful references will be released in a few years.

Rating:
Summary: A Guide To The Star Wars Universe
Review: Bill Slavicsek's book is a masterpiece. It tells a little about basically everything in the Star Wars Universe. It does hawever have many mistakes. The amount and type of weapons on certain craft is one example. Another is some items listed in the table of contents type of thing aren't listed in the book with any information. Other than those few things this book is about the best thing for referance to Star Wars items.

Rating:
Summary: This book is great!
Review: Have you come to an total *WHAT* when reading a Star Wars -novel. Then buy this book. It has almost everything in it.

Rating:
Summary: incomplete, but, a must-have
Review: having been a HUGE star wars fan since 1977, (or 1976, when i first heard of it, a year before everyone else, a fact in which i take great pride!), i consider it a must-have. i got it as a yule-gift. a very good info source, it is docked one star only because it can't be kept completly up-to-date. get it, get it, get it!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Great Refrence material!
Review: Hello, I'm a true Star Wars Fanatic, And I goit this book a couple years ago. It's great. There's something about almost everything in it, including obscure stuff from the lesser-known spinoffs. My gripes are the illustration quality is pretty low, even for a book of this type, and that it's about 3 years out of date(our universe, not the SW universe)

Rating:
Summary: This is a good book for a Star Wars encyclopedia.
Review: I am 15 and I know almost everything about Star Wars. This book gave me a lot of facts and interesting pictures about the Star Wars universe. I only give it a 8 because it needs to be updated.

Rating:
Summary: This book is awesome
Review: I got this book around the time it came out, and 3 years later it is still the first book I go to for Star Wars look ups. Its biggest problem is that it is dated and cuts off right after Vector Prime, so it is not much help for looking up things in the New Jedi Order. That being said, it is still very valid and apart from the NJO and various newer comic book series, it covers pretty much everything. This book is a must for any serious Star Wars reader, and I highly recommend it as such. I would like to see a new edition with up-to-date material released after Episode III comes out.